Exploring the Relationship Between Postcolonial and Indigenous Literary Criticism in Challenging Colonial Narratives and Reclaiming Cultural Identity

Abstract

The focus of this study is the relationship between postcolonial literature and Indigenous literary criticism as critique on the colonial narratives and recovery of identities. This research has explored the historical erasure, cultural representation, stories, and collective Indigenous sovereignty as a focus of the critical approaches, by reviewing qualitative sources like journals, articles, literature papers and peer-reviewed studies. This is an attempt to draft a summary of the analysis that was conducted on the current study and based on this analysis, it can be concluded that postcolonial criticism has contested the imperial ideology and unequal power hierarchy, whereas Indigenous literary criticism is on ancestral knowledge, cultural continuity and the self-determination of communities. The study indicated common goals and major differences in the theory of the two approaches. This research has demonstrated the importance of an Indigenous-centred critical framework which draws on an integration of both perspectives, with the preservation of Indigenous cultural identity and interpretive authority.